Can Social Networking Find 10 Red Balloons?

Tomorrow morning, teams from all across the United States will try to find 10 red balloons. The federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to moor 10 red weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States, and whoever sends in the GPS coordinates of all the balloons first will win $40,000. With this event – called the DARPA Network Challenge – DARPA wants to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Arpanet – the predecessor of today’s Internet. DARPA wants to test how the Internet, crowdsourcing and social networking can help to solve “broad-scope, time-critical problems.”

Teams from all over the United States have registered for this event – although anybody can participate. Entries will be accepted until 12 p.m. ET on Dec. 14. The balloons will be on display during daylight hours from 10 a.m. ET until 4 p.m. local time.